The Holocaust Study Tour is an educational tour that motivates and challenges students to rethink one of the most horrific events in history. Traveling through Germany, Czech Republic, and Poland, students make meaningful cultural connections to the people and nations they visit.
Read below to learn more about the trip and it's purpose.
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Mail to:
NMHS
One Snyder Circle
New Milford, New Jersey 07646

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Day 1 - Berlin, Germany

We welcome parents
of this year’s Holocaust Study Tour participants, their friends and family, HST
alums, our colleagues, and anyone who just happened upon our blog and is
interested in our trip, as we begin our annual study of the Holocaust during
two weeks in Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland.

The Mövenpick is in the Anhalter area of Berlin, in the center of the
city close to the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag [parliament building],
Potsdamer Platzand Checkpoint Charlie
where tourists and West Berliners could leave the American sector andenter the Soviet sector to visit East Berlin.

The Mövenpick Hotel islocated on
Schöneberger Straße was a former industrial building built by the Siemens
company in 1914 known as Siemenshaus, which Mövenpick convertedin 2003 to a wonderful hotel which mixes
contemporary design with elements of the building’s industrial past.Throughout the hotel, cases housing various
machinery parts and railway items such as locomotive boilers, reference the
former railway station, the Anhalter Bahnhof the remains of which are located across
the street from our hotel.Erected in 1880, it was the most important
train station in Berlin to cities in the South such as Frankfurt, Munich,
Prague and Rome.In the bombing of
Berlin in 1944 the train station was severely damaged.In 1960 the city of West Berlin decided to
demolish the Anhalter Bahnhof, but when the smoke cleared from the demolition,
a portion of the main portal remained standing and authorities decided to spare
it.

Sixteen students
from three high schools, New Milford [New Jersey], and Bishop O'Dowd and
Oakland Schoolfor the Arts [California]
met together for the first time this morning at our hotel.After introducing ourselves over the
incredible buffet breakfast, and meeting our Israeli historian and guide
throughout the trip, Shalmi Barmore,and
Olaf, our local guide, we boarded our private bus to begin the day, which was
beautiful, sunny and warm.

As we drove to our
first stop, Olaf talked about the city of Berlin and how it was a relatively
new, modern city.Sixty percent of
Berlin had been destroyed by Allied bombings at the end of World War II. The
city was divided and West Berlin prospered and underwent a great deal of
development, while the poorer East Berlin did not.When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and
the city was reunited, much construction was done on the former Eastern side.He pointed out a row of cobblestones in the
road which seemed to meander through the street and told us that it represented
where the Wall had stood prior to 1989. This was the first modern memorial we saw today.

Mr. Barmore asked
“What are you here to study on this trip?Why Germany? How do we look for a reason for the Holocaust?Is there something different in German
history that could provide an explanation?”

We, therefore, began at the German historical museum
where Mr. Barmore would attempt to give context to the events we would be
studying. Mr. Barmore began by discussing how nations are formed or
crystallized around a common history and how nationalism played a significant
role in the development of Nazism.

Mr. Barmore talked
about the concept of nationalism and how European nationalism differs from
American nationalism.Nationalism, we
were told, is a modern concept from the 19th century when cultural
national identities began to be created.When asked ‘What is American nationalism?’ students offered concepts
such as freedoms, values, equality – concepts guaranteed by the
Constitution.Mr. Barmore agreed, saying that the American nationalism
was the result of rationalism and the focus was on democracy and the rights of
the individual.In the United States,
the structure and role of the government was created in the name of the
people.The purpose of the state was to
guard the civil rights of the citizens and the government officials in America
were considered by the people to be our civil servants.

In contrast, we
were told that in the European historical evolution of the context of ‘nation’,
it is something greater than its people, something vague and difficult to
define.Asking German students what is
‘German nationalism’, he said, would elicit different responses, which would
include history and tradition and culture, not typical responses from
Americans.“Anybody can become an
American” we were told, “if they agree to uphold the Constitution and pass a test.”For Germans, it was much more complicated.Germany became a nation at a very special
stage in history and becoming a nation was an issue of consciousness, where
people began to see themselves as Germans, especially as it developed during
crises, where suffering together gave people the feeling of unity.European nationalism was also different
because of the often changing borders throughout history.Towns in what is now Western Poland had also
been known by German names when they were part of Germany as towns in what is Alsace-Lorraine had also
belonged to Germany at various times.“Land is sacred,” we were told. People will fight and die for their
land.”“The Holocaust”, said Mr.
Barmore, “is the extreme expression of what nationalism can lead to”

We would see three images of Germania in this museum
which would help us understand German nationalism.Germania represented Germany as Uncle Sam
symbolizes the United States or Marianne represents France.In the entry hall, standing before a large
statue of Germania representing the strength and power of the German
empirewe discussed how history is what
we remember and how history is subject to interpretation and can be
manipulated. In the 19th century Germany saw itself through the eyes
of Western civilization values such as the beauty of symmetry, the white color
of the statue,

At the other end of the hall another statue stood
representing the Nazi belief of what it meant to be German.The Nazis gave Germans a racial definition
and claimed there were biological differences between different peoples and
this Nazi racial ideology would lead to the Holocaust.The statue represented physical strength but
also creativity:his mission was to
fight for culture, language, the arts.“The Aryan stood for cultural creativity”, Mr. Barmore said, “while the
Jews stood for cultural destruction.” As we walked through the museum we heard how
German Jews believed they were Germans and they were contributing to German
culture, such as through the music of Felix Mendelsohn, a converted Jew.However, Nazi racial ideology created an organic
definition of nationalism.Whereas Jews
believed they were fully assimilated and identified themselves as Germans, many
believed that Jews could not be Germans.Mr. Barmore spoke of what happens when you have a tree and you try to
graft a thorn bush to it.It will not
succeed and the tree will ultimately reject it.“The Jews,” he said, “had such a one-sided love affair with Germany.”

At a second statue of Germania, Mr. Barmore asked how she
was depicted?“Sad” was the general
sense.Because this statue was the
personification of resentment.After all
of the optimism of what Germany could become, the industrial period and
modernity had created many economic divisions in society, especially from the
peasants who came to be urbanized but would earn less and felt deep resentment
towards the new wealthier middle class, many of whom were Jews.

A third Germania was a painting of her -showing the anger and fire of Germany at the
loss of World War I.This loss would
fuel the nationalism that would see the rise of the Nazis to power over the
next decade.

After a brief lunch on our own at Potsdamer Platz, we
headed to the Reichstag where we had entry passes to walk into the dome of the
German parliament, and then headed back to the hotel to check into our rooms
and get ready for our first dinner in Berlin.

14 comments:

Busy & interesting first day. I learn something every time I read the blog. The whole concept of nationalism is fascinating & so relevant in our world today. Hopefully you will all get a good night's rest. Looking forward to learning thru all of you.

I’m glad you all made it safely to Berlin! I always loved how Mr. Barmore asks questions that make students think and recall what they have learned in class. The compare and contrast of American nationalism to European nationalism was a great place to start on this journey in relation to what’s going on today. I can’t wait to hear more and learn more from your experiences.